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Presenting wasn't easy, nor was it quick.
Jeongin knew that in theory, but he still didn't expect just how hard those two months would be.
He woke up on a random tuesday around 3 am, feeling way too warm and suffocated by his comforter and clothes.
Jeongin kicked the blanket off and tossed around a little, before recognizing it wasn't going to help.
He cracked a window open and left for a quick, cold shower. He rinsed off the film of sweat, trying to avoid getting his hair wet. He didn't want to wake the others blow drying his hair at ass o’ clock in the morning.
The towel he rubbed himself dry with felt rougher than usual, but he ignored it.
Slipping back into the soft sheets he let out a satisfied grunt, cuddling into his pillow.
Despite the cold shock his body just went through, Jeongin had no problems falling back asleep.
"What the hell, why is it so cold in here?"
Jeongin blinked against the light coming from his window. He couldn't see exactly who the silhouette standing in front of it was, but the smell of green tea gave Minho away almost immediately. It seemed stronger than usual.
"Hm?" He asked, still sleepy. "What time is it?"
"It's almost 11, breakfast is almost finished, come down if you want your waffles still warm, yeah? Also, did you sleep with your window open all night?"
"Not all night.. I woke up because i was hot, so i opened it and forgot to close it i guess. I'm sorry" the younger answered, sitting up in his bed.
Waffles... yes.
"No no it's okay, just be careful that you don't get sick. I'm going down now, you coming?"
Jeongin nodded, pushing himself off the bed and walking to the bathroom to wash up.
The mess that were the scents and voices of his mates greeted him when he came down, who were sitting around the dining table, monching away happily at the waffles and the various toppings scattered over the table. He wasn't really mated with them yet, in the sense that he wore their bite, but that was just formalities at this point. They behaved like a mating-bond already and wanted to wait for everyone to be presented so they could all mate at once.
He plopped down on the last free chair at the end of the table next to Chan and stared at his waffles for a second, suddenly having lost his appetite.
Why are they so goddamn loud this morning?
He got a few good mornings but the general discussion at the table seemed to be about some bordering pack posing a potential threat to theirs.
Jeongin ducked his head away from the tense conversation, his mates scents smelled weird, altogether, somehow more intense and while he probably would have liked them that way individually, all of them together and agitated like that were overwhelming.
“We shouldn’t take this risk this time of year, we have a whole lot of young pups down in the village, any aggression could cause other packs to attack and we can't afford any injured wolves. Prey is scarce enough as it is”
“I see that but if we dont keep them off our territory they will start taking our prey. Not to start on how weak and vulnerable that will make our pack look to others.”
The youngest poked at his waffle, nibbling at some from time to time but feeling a little sick as everything started to piss him off. He pushed the plate away from himself again, standing up from his place.
Chan next to him looked up to him. “You’re still taking over in the archive for Hannie this week, right? Remember we talked about it on saturday”
Right, I did say I would do that. But who is he anyway to tell me what to do like that? And I'm cold now too. Fuck them. Im going to bed, what the fuck.
“‘m not feeling well, gonna lie down”
“Jeongin, we talked about this, im relying on you here”
“I’m not even gonna do a good job anyways, leave me alone already”
“Yang Jeongin, as your pack alpha im telling you right now, these files needs to be sorted out and you’re free, it's not up for debate”
He flinched back first, then hot anger soared through Jeongin. What the fuck. There were other mates Chan could be asking if he saw that he wasn't feeling good today. Didn’t his opinions and feelings matter in this?
And to play the pack alpha card. Was he just a stupid pup to him?
And the other mates were not doing anything either, did they think the same? His eyes strayed around them, none of them met his gaze.
“WELL I ALREADY TOLD YOU I'M NOT GONNA DO IT. ASK SOMEONE ELSE! SINCE FELIX-HYUNG LIKES TO BE SUCH A PUSHOVER HE’LL DO IT GLADLY, WON’T HE”
He regretted the words the second they left his mouth, but there was no turning back on them now, so he just stormed back upstairs and slammed the door behind him.
Down at the dinner table, the others sat still in shock from just what happened.
It was evident in Chan's eyes, that his blood was boiling and he was about to jump up from his seat and go after Jeongin, but Minho gripped his wrist.
“Hyung, stay here and cool down for a bit”
“No, what he just said was unacceptable and i will-”
Changbin interjected “No, you won't do anything right now. Seungminie, do you mind checking on him?”
The younger Beta nodded and made his way up the stairs slowly.
“Something is up with him. He smells funny too, I thought he was coming down with something, poor pup slept with his window open tonight, but I didn't think it was going to be the personality of a chihuahua” Minho pondered.
“I think so too. I don't remember him ever being that defensive with us.. But don't worry Channie-hyung, leave the archive to me. I'll check on the nursery at lunch but they will be fine without me until we get this thing sorted out.” Felix reassured.
The pack-alpha took a deep breath and a second to collect himself. “I’m sorry, I don't know what it is but I’ve been all irritated and strained all morning, I didn't mean to let it out on everyone..”
he sunk back into his seat, all energy suddenly vanishing from his body.
Upstairs, Seungmin gently rapped his knuckles against the door to their youngests room.
“Go away Chan-hyung.”
Smiling softly the Beta replied “It's not Chan, pup”
A moment of silence. Followed by a small “come in then i guess.”
When Seungmin opened the door, he felt a gush of cold air meeting his face.
What the hell?
He closed it behind him and made his way to the pile of blankets on the bed, where he could see a hint of dark hair peeking out. Seungmin sat down at the far end of the bed and just waited in silence. Jeongin would speak when he was ready.
“I didn't mean what I said about Lix-hyung..” came the muffled voice.
“I know.”
A moment of silence.
“And I didn’t want to be rude to Chan-hyung”
“I know”
Another minute of silence.
“I know that i promised to help out in the archives but i just felt so overwhelmed by everything down there and i didnt know how to react and im really not feeling well, you HAVE to believe me”
“It's okay pup, you don't have to do the archive, Yongbokie-hyung said he’ll do it for you. But can you explain what exactly was overwhelming down there?”
Jeongin now emerged from his cocoon and sat against the wall.
“I’m not sure, but everything was loud and smelly and bright and… I don't know. It was all just too much.”
“Smelly?”
“Just, you know. Everyone smelled more intense? You do too right now. I like it, but everyone at once was just a lot.”
Oh? Could it be that… No way! Unless..
“By any chance, do your gums itch? Or the skin on your neck?”
Jeongin furrowed his brows, tongue gliding over his upper row of teeth and his fingers feeling around the small scent gland in the crook of his neck and shoulder.
“You know, now that you say it.. They do. I woke up last night too because I felt so hot.. you dont think im..?”
A smile crept onto the betas lips. “I do think that. It’s pretty much the only reasonable answer. Plus you're smelling a little funny this morning.”
Jeongin still rubbed over the gland absent mindedly. “I.. Do we tell the others?”
“That depends. Do you want to tell them? They will find out sooner or later anyways”
The (still) Pup gave it some thought before answering. “I think I want to. I need to apologize to the hyungs first though. I feel terrible.”
The next weeks of Jeongins presentation were… interesting.
Obviously all the mates were doing their best to help their youngest with the process as much as possible, but he still went through a lot.
1.
His hormone levels were balancing out differently, leading to some hella mood swings, reaching from him not leaving his bed all day and wanting to bawl his eyes out because of every slight minor inconvenience…
“Pup, its okay, we will get some brown sugar this afternoon, no need to freak out”
“Bu-ut i wanted to-” *incomprehensible mess of sobs, rambles and cries*
… to almost manic euphoric states, where he would bounce all over the house and laugh like a crazy person, just slightly driving everyone else who was present in the house insane.
2. He was teething. Similarly to a toddler losing their first teeth, a Pup’s canines fall out and grow back pointier and a little farther out of the gums. This can be a quite itchy and uncomfortable process.
“Hyunjinie-hyung my teeth itch :(“
“How did you just say that aloud??”
“Hyung my teeth :((((“
“It’s okay, come here”
The older omega let him sit in his lap and chew on his shoulder. Jeongin didn't bite hard enough to actually break skin, but when he finally got up, the area was red, raw and had little dents that would bruise a little the next day.
(Over that he would have a minor mental breakdown about when he saw it because he really didn't mean to hurt his hyung, he swore on his life (No matter how often Hyunjin reassured him that it just tickled a little))
So whenever he felt itchy teeth again he would make a round among all mates in his reach, never nomming on one too long or hard. In his books Changbin was the best chew toy though, as his shoulders were tough and muscular and didn’t budge as easily.
3. Similarly, his scent glands were breaking out. Even Though he has had faint distinctive scent all his life and therefore also had scent glands, only now were they fully developing into usable organs, meaning he would be producing his real, own smell without the uniform sweet softness that all pups were wearing. He would also be able to scent others and spread his pheromones from his body.
This was probably the most torturous of everything. He constantly had to suppress the urge to scratch at them and potentially damage them.
Over the day he used a numbing and cooling cream to help, but one morning a panicking Jisung woke him up, after finding his neck bleeding, the younger had somehow managed to pick at it at night with his fingernails, fortunately the scratches were only superficial and no harm was done.
4. His relationship to Chan was the one that shifted the most out of all of them. Even Though their rational and human sides still loved each other, the more primal instincts were a little harder to manage, as it became clearer with every day that Jeongin was presenting as an alpha.
The wolf on his end was still just growing out of his puppy age and it was hard for it to accept that he would be subordinate to Chan, trying to assert dominance, not wanting to submit just yet.
Chan had already been through this once, when Jisung had presented a year prior, but his wolf still didn't appreciate to be questioned like that by a mere kid once again.
Especially after that morning quarrell, they were a little awkward and tense with each other. After a week Minho had had enough of them and took them to his room for like 20 minutes. The others didn't hear what he said to them, they just knew that after that he came out of the room looking satisfied and that they found their oldest and youngest alpha the next morning sleeping cuddled up against each other.
Even years later all 8 of them would look back at this time fondly. Everytime one of them remembered, they would find Jeongin, just to shower him with affection and breathe in his spicy walnut and honey scent.
And Jeongin would pretend to hate these random displays of affection, knowing deep inside we would not give them up for all the money in the world.